Discusses issues like fair trade, green buying, charity models, social entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability etc. and what all these developments mean for the future of businesses and economy in general and ArtOcrat in particular.

Monday, May 18, 2009

There’s no one better at telling people a message and getting them to act on it than the communications industry. There’s nothing more instant form of communicating a message than a poster.

Good 50×70, an independent, non-profit initiative was created with the following aims:

- to promote the value of social communication in the creative community,- to provide charities with a (free) database of communication tools,- to inspire the public via graphic design.

Their focus is an annual contest to design posters confronting seven of the critical issues affecting today’s world. They chose posters as the media for the contest as they’re the most direct way to convey a message and can be easily translated to other media.

Here are some of my favorite shortlisted posters under all the 7 categories.Women Right Violation

Thursday, May 7, 2009

We all have recycling stations in our homes. Some homes have dedicated bins or shelves for it. But if your home is anything like mine then you have a area (mostly a corner of your patio) piled up with recycling stuff and a too small bin underneath the pile.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The couple Matthew and Waveney, live with their dog and two chickens in Christchurch, New Zealand and they challenged themselves to limit their yearly trash quota to one bag. And they did it!! To cap off their successful adventure, they hosted a party of 100 people and generated only 1 piece of plastic wrap from that huge celebration!

Monday, May 4, 2009

This disturbing article "Green' light bulbs poison workers" points out about a very disturbing aspect of our green movement and could be a big blow to our ongoing struggle towards sustainability.We all know that one CLF bulb is as good as 9 regular bulbs and, some of us also know that each CFL Bulb contains up to 5 milligrams of mercury(Hg).

In China, a heavy environmental price is being paid for the production of CFL lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories.

Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. A surge in foreign demand, set off by a European Union directive making these bulbs compulsory within three years, has also led to the reopening of mercury mines that have ruined the environment.

This is a scary situation to be in. We will have to wait and see how China and Europe decide to deal with this. What measures will be taken to protect the factory and mine workers from the harmful effects of mercury and what happens to the prices of CFL bulbs once these measures are enforced.

The Fan Can is a new line of recycling receptacles aims to capitalize on sports fans’ enthusiasm for their teams.

It was first installed at the Washington Nationals sports complex, with 100 such cans being sponsored by Coca-Cola.

The Fan Can is designed to integrate corporate marketing messages, including recycling and sustainability, into the sporting scene.

Permutations of the Fan Can come with lids lids shaped like helmets used by baseball batters, football players and motor sports drivers. The cans are made of up to 50 percent post-consumer and industrial plastic, are highly-durable for expanded service life, and are 100 percent recyclable at the end of their life cycle, according to a press release.

"Fan Cans make it easy for sponsors to link their brand with the green movement, while also connecting with sports teams and their fans," explains Stephen Wolford, president of Fan Cans, LLC.